Domino NRPC Test

This test monitors the availability and performance of the Lotus Domino mail server from an external perspective. The test mimics the mail client activity by using the Domino Notes Remote Procedure Call (NRPC) protocol for sending and receiving mails.

This test is disabled by default. To enable the test, go to the enable / disable tests page using the menu sequence : Agents -> Tests -> Enable/Disable, pick the desired Component type, set Performance as the Test type, choose the test from the disabled tests list, and click on the < button to move the test to the ENABLED TESTS list. Finally, click the Update button.

Target of the test : A Domino mail server

Agent deploying the test : An internal agent

Outputs of the test : One set of results for every Lotus Domino mail server being monitored.

Configurable parameters for the test
Parameter	Description
Test Period	How often should the test be executed.
Host	The IP address of the machine where the Domino server is installed.
Port	The port number through which the Domino mail server communicates.
User	The user name of the sender on the mail server.
Password	The password that corresponds to the specified sender.
Confirm Password	Confirm the password by retyping it here.
NotesHome	Specify the full path to the Lotus mail client. For eg., d:/Lotus.

Measurements made by the test
Measurement	Description	Measurement Unit	Interpretation
Ability to send mails	Indicates the availability of the mail server for receiving the mails sent by the test.	Percent	A value of 0 indicates that the test was not successful in sending a mail. Possible reasons for this could include the mail server being down, the network connection to the server not being available, or the test configuration information being incorrect.
Sent messages	Indicates the number of messages sent to the mail server.	Number	A value of –1 indicates that the mail server may be down or the configuration information may be incorrect.
Time to send mails	Indicates time taken to send a mail from to the mail server.	Secs	A high value of this measure could indicate high network traffic or that the mail server is busy.
Ability to receive mails	Indicates the availability of the mail server for sending mails to the mail client.	Percent	The value of 0 indicates that the test was not successful in receiving a mail message from the mail server. Possible reasons could be incorrect configuration information.
Received messages	Indicates the number of messages received by the mail client from the mail server.	Number	The value of 0 indicates that the test was not successful in receiving mail messages from the mail server. The possible reasons could be: The sent messages could be in the message queue of the mail server but not routed to the mail box Configuration information may be incorrect Network failure The mail service may not be running in the user account
Time to receive mail	Indicates the time taken by the mail client to receive a mail from the mail server.	Secs	A high value in this measure indicates that the mail server is busy or the network traffic is high.
Avg round-trip time	The average of the round trip time (the time lapse between transmission and reception of a message by the server) of all the messages received by the mail server during the last measurement period.	Mins	This is a key measure of quality of the mail service. An increase in Roundtrip_time may be indicative of a problem with the mail service. Possible reasons could include queuing failures, disk space being full, etc.
Max round-trip time	The high water mark of the round trip time (the time lapse between transmission and reception of a message by the server) of all messages received by the mail server during the last measurement period.	Mins	If the value of the Rcvd_msgs measure is 1, then the value of the Max_roundtrip_time measure will be the same as the Avg_roundtrip_time.

Note:

Notes client must be installed on the system where this test will be executed.
This test will execute only on Windows environments.
The lcppn22.dll is required by the user to run the Domino NRPC test. To download this dll, do the following:
Connect to the URL: http://www14.software.ibm.com/webapp/download/preconfig.jsp?id=2004-06-07+07%3A42%3A38.563764R&S_TACT=104AH%20W42&S_CMP=&s=
Download the Lotus Notes C++ API Toolkit in the URL to a location in your local disk.
An executable file (.exe) gets downloaded, which when executed, creates a notescpp directory in the specified location.
Also, an lcppn22.dll gets created within this notescpp directory.
Copy this lcppn22.dll to the <LOTUS_NOTES_INSTALL_DIR>\notes directory.

Note:

The eG external agent that is executing the Domino NRPC test, should be installed on a Windows NT/2000/2003 system that is in the same domain as the Lotus Domino mail server. The Lotus Domino mail client should also be installed on this system for the Domino NRPC test to work.
While deciding on a mailbox to be used for configuring the test, the administrator should first check whether the mailbox exists on the Domino server.